At the end of his keynote speech at the company's Professional Developers Conference here, Allchin promised that a beta version of Windows would come next summer, but he would be pinned down further. "We're not going to make other commitments of when we are going to get done with this product," he said.
Analysts generally give 2006 as the likely debut date for Longhorn, the next version of Windows.
Allchin did offer details on some other releases of Windows that are coming, including a new release of Microsoft XP Tablet PC Edition. The new version, code-named Lonestar, is slated to come out in the first half of next year and offer "dramatically better" handwriting recognition. An interim update of Windows XP--Service Pack 2--is also due in the same time frame.
As for Longhorn, Allchin said that programs that run in Windows XP, barring any security isues, will also run in Longhorn, as will programs developed for Microsoft's .Net Framework. Still, Allchin urged developers to start thinking about developing using new tools--WinFX and XAML (pronounced "zamel") that will take advantage of Longhorn's new features.
Allchin's appearance on the stage followed that of company chairman Bill Gates, who earlier Monday offered the first look at Longhorn to those attending the Microsoft conference.
But even as he was trying to spur interest among developers, Allchin warned that the preview version of Longhorn they were given was not ready for prime time.
"We still are very early," Allchin said. "We've never shared bits this early."
He warned developers not to put it on their main production machines and cautioned against connecting devices to the Internet.
Also, he added, "the performance is not good."
Most of Allchin's keynote, though, was devoted to the possibilities of Longhorn, with demos from a few third parties. Executives from e-commerce company Amazon.com, drug maker Merck and software company Adobe Systems all shared some of their ideas for how the new operating system might be used.
